XFX 6950 2gb Overclock

[MrHood22]

I've never been this confused on a graphics card overclock. On previous cards it was just a matter of loading up Rivatuner and finding the sweet spot. i'm looking up OCing the 6950 and people are talking about voltage mods, BIOS flashes, BIOS switches, etc.

I'm aware of the Core and Shader clock limits but i'm not sure what is needed to get past them. Basically, i'd like to get it at 6970 speeds or at least see what it takes to get there then I can evaluate if the risk is worth the reward. I've done several google searches and i'm still a little confused. Part of the stuff that's confusing me is the method seems to be different depending on what brand you have, reference switch vs no switch, what revision of the card, etc. One of the reviews said I don't have a switch but I haven't confirmed it yet.

So what's the deal on this?

 

[MrHood22]

I did some more reading and stumbled upon this:

Go to computer -> Local Disc C: -> program files x86 -> MSIAfterburner.cfg

Change

[ATIADLHAL]
UnofficialOverclockingEULA =
UnofficialOverclockingMode = 0

TO

[ATIADLHAL]
UnofficialOverclockingEULA = I confirm that I am aware of unofficial overclocking limitations and fully understand that MSI will not provide me any support on it
UnofficialOverclockingMode = 1

 

[Silent Knight]

If you want to OC your card to 6970 stock speed then the MSI AB .cfg file mod is enough,it just breaks the clock limit in CCC.The OC process is straight forward as the past.

The BIOS flashing,dual BIOS switch,etc. are for unlocking the extra shaders on your GPU,making it runs with 1536 shaders (as a 6970) and not really related to actual overclocking.

 

[Dr.GumbyM.D.]

That works fine if you're using afterburner for your overclocking. I did for a while, however there was a known problem of BFBC2 crashing (or punkbuster causing it to crash) when programs are monitoring in the background, like Afterburner, GPU-Z, etc so I stopped using it entirely.

I've been using the Racer X tool made by BAGZZlash of Tech Power Up (It's called RacerX unlocker). It's a great little program that all it does is creates a modified registry config file for your CCC overdrive section. It basically allows you to set upper and lower limits (2d and 3d) for overdrive, so that you can use the already existing program (I need it for eyefinity anyway, so it's already on my system) and still reach higher OCs than otherwise required.

That being said, it won't help for voltages, but I've overclocked and benchmarked while using AB and/or Trixx, and found that increasing the voltage over stock only generated more heat, but wouldn't really let me get higher clock speeds out of my GPU (I didn't try memory, since I've got unlocked 6950s and people were concerned with pushing the VRAM, citing that being why the straight 6950-->6970 flashes had artifacting problems from overworked/improperly timed/overvolted RAM).

Hope that helps a little. FWIW, I run my 2 6950s at 900/1375 all day long while gaming on stock voltages. I turn down the speed when not gaming to minimize power consumption.

 

[collegeboy69us]

This is a good thread! keep it going

I just bought an XFX 6950 2GB card about 2 weeks ago.... very good value. And like everyone else I want the most from it. Been using Afterburner for this and my previous card with great results. It just works. HOWEVER just like Gumby said there is a bug where Bad Company 2 and Afterburner don't play nice. For me after about 30 minuutes of serious gaming i will get a hard lock and crash. (not dependent on if im overclocking at all)

As I write this I'm sitting at 900 core (@ 1.2 V) 1375 memory - custom fan profile. And rocking it.

I will probably investigate an alternate like this Racer X tool that was mentioned. It sucks jumping into a game and having to worry about a damn program in my system tray crashing my gaming goodness.

 

[Loto_Bak]

I would love to rely solely on CCC, but I need a software voltage tweak.
RBE is unable to edit my temperature registers so I cannot hardcode it.

Anyone have any thoughts? I use trixx+ccc in combination at the moment
running at 920/1400 @ 1.21v on a powercolor 6950 w/unlocked shaders.

 

[Tiporaro]

Yea, I went to trixxx as well as afterburner doesn't play nicely with powertune. Although I still have afterburner for hardware monitoring.

 

[Loto_Bak]

I use gpu-z for monitoring, just wish they would let you stretch the window taller.
I would like to see power consumption and clockspeed (to see if it gets throttled) at the same time.

Anyone find a win7 gadget that graphs ati gpu temps? Ive got a couple that display temp but not graphed.

 

[Lord_Exodia]

I've never been this confused on a graphics card overclock. On previous cards it was just a matter of loading up Rivatuner and finding the sweet spot. i'm looking up OCing the 6950 and people are talking about voltage mods, BIOS flashes, BIOS switches, etc.

I'm aware of the Core and Shader clock limits but i'm not sure what is needed to get past them. Basically, i'd like to get it at 6970 speeds or at least see what it takes to get there then I can evaluate if the risk is worth the reward. I've done several google searches and i'm still a little confused. Part of the stuff that's confusing me is the method seems to be different depending on what brand you have, reference switch vs no switch, what revision of the card, etc. One of the reviews said I don't have a switch but I haven't confirmed it yet.

So what's the deal on this?

Does your card have a bios switch on it? Or even better can you link to exactly which model you have?

Instead of rivatuner use afterburner. As post 2 says enable unofficial overclocking. At the same voltage of 6970 you should be able to exceed it's stock clocks of 880 on the core.

My advice is to focus on ram overclocking later on as the core nets you the best performance increase and pushing the ram high up front can hinder your core overclock.